Stepping out for charity

A TRADE union activist from Bellshill has put his best foot forward to help raise more than £1,000 for Cancer Research UK.

Chris Gilmour (23), a member of shopkeepers’ union Usdaw’s Scottish Youth Committee, teamed up with two colleagues to walk the gruelling 96 miles of the West Highland Way.

Fellow SYC member Dex Miller, from Irvine, and area organiser and SYC co-ordinator Craig Smith were piped off from the Tesco store in Uddingston and walked for an average of seven hours a day, arriving at Fort William around 10 days later.

They endured typically unpredictable Scottish weather, fighting cold and rain at the start and heat and sunburn at the end, and said the walk was a fantastic experience they would never forget.

Chris, who works at the Tesco Uddingston store, said: “My gran sadly passed way from cancer last year so I really wanted to do something to help raise money for cancer research.

“The support we’ve had from friends and colleagues has been amazing and we also had a fantastic response from people we met on the walk itself, many of whom pledged support or gave us donations on the spot.”